This is a simple community project, similar in spirit to the 1994 tune-up challenge, except that we're using deathmatch maps from 1994 and turning them into (hopefully fun) SP maps.

The basic premises:
* 9 pure vanilla Doom maps (episode 1), using all stock IWAD resources except for a new TITLEPIC
* every map is based on a 1994 Doom deathmatch PWAD, ideally unique but if several people want to use the same map as a base that's okay too
* each map should match the IWAD map name and music in that particular slot (so E1M3 should resemble a Toxin Refinery, etc.) -- basically we're just following the original Doom storyline
* difficulty level should be roughly similar to the original IWAD map slot

All contributions are welcome, regardless of mappers' level of skill. If you have never mapped before, this is a great opportunity to try! :)

If you'd like to join this project, here are two places to look for 1994 deathmatch PWADs:
* doomworld search page - returns sorted list of PWADs with "deathmatch" in their title. Unfortuntely it's not possible to search by file path, so this is not a complete list.
* /idgames/levels/doom/deathmatch directory - full list of all Doom deathmatch PWADs, but this is not sorted and thus includes maps from 1994 to the present

One caveat: a map can only be used in this project if it has a permissive license, which is usually something to the effect of "Authors may use this level as a base to build additional levels." Some also require that you give them credit, and those are okay too.

Heh, I once did this with LEDGESI.WAD, but in a ZDoom survival horror map as part of a 5 map episode of tiny maps. Unfortunately I'm too busy to take on anymore concurrent mapping projects, else I'd have another crack at it for this one.

I think everyone should use their judgement on their particular map and slot. :) Most DM maps are probably smallish to begin with, but if someone has a great idea for a big map, then by all means they should run with it. Personally, I plan to extend gerbilz.wad by at least 50%, in order to add secret areas and change the flow so that all 3 keys are required.

At this point, I've only got a very vague idea of how I want my map to turn out. I started working on the big central room, changing sector heights, textures, moving some vertices around, etc. The textures in the original map are actually pretty hillarious. :D Lots of maps from that era are also that way, but I did find one that was "amazing": stolen.wad. It has good texture choices and alignment, moody lighting, height variations, etc. Of course the flow would need to be reworked, since like most DM maps it's very open.

Okay dumb question time... I have this "puzzle" where you need to run off a ledge to grab the yellow key that's sitting on a tall block:

But the catch is, you can't just run straight like in the picture or you'll fall short. The only way to get it is to run from an angle. I'm not talking about special SR or SR50 tricks, just that you have to approach at the right angle (like say 15 degrees from the angle in the picture).

So is this okay if the key is required to end the map? Or is that too hard for some people to figure out, and then maybe I should use the yellow key for the exit to E1M9 instead?

hex11 said:
If you go for the plasma/rockets, you can't get back out, and also can't aim so good. ;) But if you don't, then you (presumably) will have to finish off some angry barons with the chainsaw.

Hmm, of course I forgot the player might still have lots of ammo from previous maps, so I dunno.

Now here's something that's puzzling me. In the first shot, right in front of shotgun, is what appears to be a green-colored BRNPOIS texture. But in fact, in the editor window it's actually a brown BRNPOIS2 texture. This is perplexing...

Every engine I test with uses the same IWAD (set via the DOOMWADDIR environment variable), so this discrepancy is hard to explain other than some kind of bug in SDL Doom. I'm wondering if anyone has ever observed this kind of strange behavior before?

Hey that's a nice map! I only found two errors. The first one is very minor: the 3 wall segments with the red switch in the start room have the "lower unpegged" flag set, which makes it look like the texture is lowering itself instead of the actual physical wall. The second error is after defeating the bosses, when you get to the end staircase: hitting the switch causes the stairs to raise, but in the wrong direction:
So unless you're quick and jump on immediately, you end up stuck at the bottom.

This project is pure vanilla, and the only thing included other than map data will be a new TITLEPIC (so no new textures, music, map names, DeHackEd patches, etc.) But everyone is free to build their map however they want, whether it's big or small, high detail or low detail, lots of tributes or none at all.

Don't worry about time. At the rate I'm going it will take me a couple months to finish my map, and there's still plenty of slots left open... I hope more people join eventually. :)

Memfis said:
I give up on slapme.wad. Can't come up with anything good. I'll try another map maybe.

Yeah, I had some problems trying to think of what to do with my map, that's one of the reasons it's taking me so long. I'm also very inexperienced and using a DEU-based editor (Yadex) so a lot of texture alignment involves mental calculations for x/y offsets. The lack of an "undo" function doesn't help either. ;)

At this point I'm not sure we're going to have a megawad if nobody else joins, so maybe it's better to stick with episode 1 slots for now? Walter's map is mostly finished, and I'm about 25% done with mine, and it'll take a couple months to finish it. Maybe this project won't generate enough interest for a full megawad, but maybe we can manage an episode (and maybe later episodes in the future).

Btw, it's okay to exceed the boundaries of the original DM map. Nobody should feel constrained by that in any way. The only hard limits are those of vanilla Doom itself.

A big computer room that desperately needs better texturing and lighting, even though it took me all day to make. This is with Chocolate Doom + Freedoom IWAD, but it doesn't look any better with the real Doom IWAD. It originally started out as a living quarters/barracks area, but the computers just showed up for no reason. This must be where the UAC nerds live...